50 Years From Now...

It happens with everything. The cadence of time and progress keep moving forward. The things we experience today will look nothing like they did in the past. Some things though take a turn and we begin to realize that maybe the old ways were not as bad as we thought and we return to our roots.
I was asked by a friend what I thought the church would look like in 50 years. To warn you, this is pure opinion, speculation, and verbal processing.

I think in some ways it will look very similar to what it does now. There will be large mega-churches, the Catholic and Orthodox churches will continue on as they have for two millennium, and there will be heated discussions about the form and function of the worship gathering.

I think the Megas will largely be legacy churches. That is, they will survive as generation after generation of family stays connected there. They are already beginning to lose influence with people who are far from God. Their pragmatic methodology is slowly beginning wear thin and the lack of discipleship is starting to show.

The Catholic and Orthodox churches will keep on keeping on. The beauty of the tradition will keep many close. The stability and structure will draw in those from emerging generations that feel like their lives are out of control and they need a touchstone of stability.

The center of the Christian world is already shifting or has shifted to the Southern hemisphere. It is growing fast. The Northern hemisphere is becoming a receiving place and this trend will continue. It will be interesting to see the rise of the Southern academy and the questions they ask and answer.

Ultimately though, I think the Church is going to have to move away from the institution on a large scale and recapture its movement principles. Global Christianity will need to look more like the Chinese church and less like the American seeker church. The Church I think will need to be smaller, more nimble, and more focused on discipleship.

I think that Protestants are going to need to learn from their Catholic and Orthodox brethren about the importance of the "parish" structure. I don't think that you will see a reunification of the three major branches of the faith.

I do not see a major persecution arising in the West. At least not the kind that we see in Sharia countries in the Middle East. Christians in the West are going to have to become more thoughtful, pursue higher education, and engage more deeply in the culture as change agents.

The church is going to have to wrestle with two very important questions: sustainability and replication. How can it sustain itself and how can it replicate?

I think at the end of the day we can sum it up like this...